The construction of wastewater treatment plant at mountain Zlatibor, a popular tourist destination, is expected to start in July. The project should solve issue of wastewater disposal in this part of Western Serbia, local authorities announced.

The project is at the stage of building permit drafting , expropriation of land is already underway, and construction of the plant should be completed by the end of the year, daily Večernje novosti wrote citing local authorities of Čajetina, the administrative center of Zlatibor.

The construction of wastewater treatment plant will solve the problem of pollution of the river Crni Rzav and its tributary Obudojevica, which are part of the river Drina confluence. The plant will be built in the settlement of Sastavci, on Obudojevica, one kilometer downstream of the tourist center of the mountain.

It will be built by a consortium of companies comprised of a Slovenian company Hidroinženjering, Belgrade-based company Beohidro, and Jedinstvo from Užice, the town in Western Serbia.

The construction costs are estimated at EUR 4.5 million and the project will be financed mostly from the local budget, but also by the EUR 1.5 million worth donation from the Slovenian government.

Donation agreement between the municipality of Čajetina and the Center for international cooperation and development of Republic of Slovenia (CMSR) was signed in April 2016. At the same ceremony the contract was also signed with the consortium of companies which will build the plant.

“It is our obligation to solve this problem as soon as possible having in mind the intensive development of the area, building of hotels and other facilities etc. We have covered with this all settlements at Zlatibor,” the head of municipality of Čajetina Milan Stamatović said at the signing ceremony last year.

With the costs of preparatory works included, overall investment is estimated at EUR 10 million. The local government of Čajetina has built a road to the future location of the plant, set up faecal collectors, secured electrical substation as well as the permission from the water management authorities.

The plant should become operational in 2019 with capacity for collecting wastewater generated for around 20.000 inhabitants. In the next phase, the capacities will be expanded for additional 10.000 users of local sewage infrastructure.

In two years time the project should result in collection and treatment of all wastewater generated at the mountain Zlatibor which is also important both from the environmental aspect and the perspective of its development as a tourist center.